[Kieran]

Hi Marialena,

Thanks very much for your excellent answers.

Regarding my experience, at the beginning I found that it was quite tough for some of my students (especially the younger ones 11-13) to really follow the activities as they were not familiar with using short films as a learning tool – though I must admit that I’m probably the one to blame as I went for the ones that I considered most interesting in terms of topic rather than gradually build their confidence and make them accustomed to the process.

Your experience is very common. It’s take time for both the teacher and students to get used to using short films and videos if they haven’t used them extensively before. What you say about the need to gradually build their confidence and make them accustomed to the process of using short films and videos is really important.

In this sense, I think that the Observation questions, Order the actions and Memory game tasks will be really helpful as ‘baby step’ activities into the world of exploiting short films in the language classroom.

Exactly! These activities are really simple and introduce students to short films and videos in a stress-free manner. ‘Baby step’ activities is a nice way of expressing this!

I feel that they’re excellent tasks for scaffolding some of the other activities that you recommend and for getting students to start exploring the film that they’re watching regardless of their English level.

They are excellent scaffolding activities.

What happens next? → Students tend to get very engaged with this activity. I’ve used it quite a lot of times. Though I must admit that at the same time I feel that it could add quite some pressure to more reserved students.

It is a very engaging activity. With regard to more reserved students, we might like to give them time to think and write their response before asking them to give it orally.

What does it sound like? and Food for thought → these are the ones I liked the most because they seem to activate different cognitive skills, e.g. auditory perception and logical reasoning.

Both of these work really well.

I’ve never done anything like these so I’m definitely planning to use them in the near future.

I’m sure they’ll work well.

Other activities: I’ve used an ‘order the scenes’ type of activity with screenshots from short films. I basically gave students printed screenshots and they – in groups – had to put them in order and decide (predict) the storyline.

‘Order the scenes’ is a great activity.

Thanks again for your excellent answers, Marialena.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks very much for your great answers!

With some of these activities students need to have a suitable range of vocabulary to effectively participate, while others are easier to differentiate.

Excellent point. Some of the activities can be used with many levels and some are more suited to just higher levels.

Order the actions

I’ve tried this activity before, not only using sentences but also pictures. It’s a good way to get lower level students to sequence the story. Rather than reading and ordering, they can look at the pictures and say what’s happening.

Absolutely. This is one of the activities which can be used with many levels but is maybe best suited to lower levels.

Back to back

I like that the students have different roles in this activity, and that the listener bases their questions on what they have heard. It would test the watcher’s memory and ability to describe what they saw.

This one is a classic. Both the viewer and listener have to work hard.

What happens next?

A worthwhile activity for predictions, students can have creative and far out ideas (and sometimes they manage to hit the nail on the head!)

This one works really well too and, as you point out, encourages students to be creative.

What does it sound like?

I’d be really interested to find out what students would predict without the visual cues. It really allows them to use their imaginations.

Students come up with great ideas!

Short films

I tend to use animated shorts. They’re silent in that they have no dialogue but there’s still music and sound effects. Two of my favourites are Pigeon Impossible and Alma. There is strong characterisation in both. The music and sound effects adds drama/atmosphere and the students get pulled into the story.

Animated shorts work really well in the language classroom and are particularly good with younger learners.

Lifevest Inside (Kindness Boomerang) is another great one. I’ve used it as a warmer for lessons on kindness, being helpful and paying it forward. It’s good for sequencing and talking/writing about stereotypes.

I’ve seen this short and like it. I agree it’s excellent for classes on kindness, being helpful and paying it forward.

The Black Hole is one I’ve used with adults – it was particularly effective for writing about conditionals.

The Black Hole is great for working on conditionals.

I did a week-long winter camp with students using Pixar shorts as the theme (titles like For the birds, Presto and Lifted). The activities were graded to their ability – instead of ordering sentences, students put pictures in order or would match sentences with pictures. They wrote about the characters, describing how they look and their personality. After watching the shorts, students took part in a range of activities – they wrote comics, created their own storyboards, and made puppets before doing a role-play.

This sounds brilliant! I really like the range of activities the students did.

Thanks again for your excellent responses, Andrew.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Daniela,

Thanks very much for your great evaluation of the extensive viewing guides.

So I focussed on the viewing guide for “The King’s Speech”.

The King’s Speech is a good one to evaluate.

Generally speaking, as Gail pointed out above, this is an amazing amount of details and materials ready for work and as I went on browsing the viewing guides I was wondering how much work did it take you to elaborate all these sheets. That is wonderful!

I’m delighted you like the amount of detail in the guides! They do take a lot of time to write!

In each guide there is a lot of material and tasks to be done by students, so I also think that as teachers we might select some questions of each section, or maybe we could leave some sections out, depending on the class, on our students needs, etc.

Yes. I think selecting some questions would work well.

I also thought that some sections are perfect to be done at home, so as a homework, both as an individual or as a small-group task (we need so much group working and we’ve done almost nothing in the last two years!).

Absolutely. The viewing is best done at home.

Others sections could be best done in class, with us teachers giving more guidance and more support.

The pre-viewing and post-viewing questions work best in class.

Among the viewing guides I was attracted by “The King’s Speech”, for many reasons: I liked that particular film, I like historical movies, I love British movies and I’ve recently developed a (good) obsession for movies, series, documentaries, dealing with the royal family. I was taught in my pre-service studies that dealing with subjects we’re keen on, is very profitable also for our students, because they can perceive our passion, our involvement in the things we are teaching.

I completely agree with you about selecting topics you’re interested in or passionate about. You can transmit that interest and passion to your students.

As regards pre-viewing questions, I find them engaging because they require the “self” involvement, so they are also very personal. I would certainly do this at school. We may build up a discussion.

Yes. The pre-viewing questions aim to activate the students’ schemata and to get a personal response from them.

As regards the glossary, I would start the analysis at school but assign the rest to do at home, I find that vocabulary learning is a typically individual task to concentrate on.

Starting the glossary in class and assigning the rest for homework makes sense.

“What do you know about the British monarchy?”
“What are the arguments in favour and against monarchies?”

I usually deal with this theme in my classes, comparing British Constitutional Monarchy and the Italian Constitution, so they might have some background when I present such an activity.

What other films have you seen about the British monarchy?
Considering the success of the series “The CROWN” and my recommendations, some of my students may have seen at least that series. The topic is also quite popular and covered by the media.

Good points. 



“What do you know about speech impediments? How do they affect people? How are they treated?”

I think this question might be too general and I think the students will need an explanation of the fact that the king had stammering. so, it would be useful to read the synopsis first.

I understand your point here. But the idea of doing the pre-viewing questions before the synopsis is that students don’t have too much information about the film.

“The film is set in London in the 1930s and includes the lives of royalty and ordinary people. What are your expectations of how it will look, particularly the production design, costume and lighting?”
A good question to predict the historical characteristics of the film and their ability to recognize social status according to costumes and clothing in general.


Exactly. That’s the rationale behind this question.

As regards the post-viewing questions I would assign some of them, to be done as a writing task.

Good idea to have students write their answers.

Then as a personal response to the film I’d assign the multimodal review, that implies the use of many competences, non only linguistic, but also digital, etc. Also, for my older students I like the idea of a video review.

Yes. The idea is to get a multi-modal response from students. The video review works well with both teens and adults.

Thanks again for your great evaluation, Daniela.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Gail,

Thanks very much for your insightful comments.

There is no question that extensive viewing improves language learning, especially when it is guided and active (for all the reasons you have given).

Absolutely. I really like what you say about the Extensive Viewing programme needing to be guided and active.

We could offer it at the university as an add-on to a course or as an elective.

I think this is the most sensible approach.

The obstacles are always financial – hiring a teacher, deciding how much or whether students would have to pay extra, etc.

Money is often an obstacle. However, I think an Extensive Viewing programme could be set up relatively cheaply. Of course, an other option is to have the programme within a normal course.

I just wonder how much time students are willing to give to such an endeavor since they have so many other academic obligations.

Yes. Time is definitely a potential obstacle. I’d try to convince students that the time they spend on reading the guide, watching the film, discussing the questions and doing the tasks, will be justified by improvements in their language level.

I generally offer my students the option of doing extensive reading or viewing and answering on “VoiceThread”. There I put up questions for them to answer and I respond orally and sometimes ask them additional follow-up questions or questions that are more personal, such as “have you ever experienced such a thing?”. I can give extra credit to students who decide to do extensive reading or viewing.

Great idea! I hadn’t thought of using VoiceThread in this way.

Thanks again for your insightful comments, Gail.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Michael,

Thanks very much for your in-depth evaluation of Extensive Viewing related to your teaching context.

EVF here is designed to deepen students’ knowledge of Korean culture and language, as well as support their English-language development, by watching feature-length films. There would be 4-6 feature-length films used in this particular course. Films would be chosen according to topic (eg., historical drama, Korean ethics / morality), availability of English-language materials (subtitles, reviews, scholarly work), and importance in the canon of Korean cinema (i.e., no obscure works). Using a few select works, along with clips and references to other films of course, allows the students to gain significant exposure to select topics and aspects of Korean culture and language without overwhelming them with viewing hours.

This makes sense to me. Choosing a select few films according to topic and importance in the canon of Korean cinema is a logical approach. As you point out, it’s important to to overwhelm or discourage students with too many viewing hours.

The [Modified] 7 stages, for the Korean students (i.e., those who know the culture and language intimately) + the non-Korean students (who are learning about these)

The modified 7-stage frameworks makes sense to me.

1. Activation
a. Class discusses preview questions after looking at a poster / viewing a trailer
i. General questions first, then on to culture / language (maybe not language at this stage)
ii. Non-Korean students ask questions.
iii. Korean students answer – as best they can.
iv. Teacher facilitates / fills in as necessary
b. It is expected that students will get quicker at this at the term progresses.

This Activation stage is good for activating students’ schemata.

2. Context and grading text
a. Students read a synopsis
i. May be taken from an online source (IMDb), or written by the instructor.
ii. Students may, eventually, create their own ‘predictive’ glossary
iii. Glossary will be multi-lingual (Korean, English, plus Ss’ 1st language)

Getting a synopsis from an online source saves a lot of time. Writing a synopsis takes a lot of time. I like the idea of having a multi-lingual glossary.

3. Preparation
a. Students will be given an English glossary (or will it be Korean????)
b. They will also have space to add their own words / expressions
c. They will have space to translate these into their own L1.
d. They will return to, and develop, this glossary after / during stage 4.

I like the idea of leaving space in the glossary for the students to add their own words / expressions. Nice!

4. Subtitles, whole film “getting acquainted”
a. This is going to be tricky.
b. Students will use no subs / English subs / Korean subs according to their individual needs
c. Korean students will focus on developing their English skills
d. Non-Korea students will focus on learning (about) Korean, and using English to scaffold that learning OR scaffolding their English (only?)
e. How this will look is dependent on the class make-up and the individual backgrounds of the students.

The subtitles are tricky as you have Korean and non-Korean students. As you point out how this works is dependent on the class make-up and the individual backgrounds of the students.

5. Stage 5 “intensive viewing”
a. Students will watch individual scenes.
b. Students will probably study these in small groups (hopefully all groups will have both Koreans and Non-Koreans) ; 5-6 groups watch 5-6 scenes
c. Focus on linguistic content in Korean, English, and with some elements of comparison to their L1 (if it’s other than Korean or English)
d. We then cycle back to stage 4 and complete the glossary.

I like your concept of ‘intensive viewing’. I can see this process working well. Having both Koreans and Non-Koreans in all groups is a good idea.

6. Post-viewing questions and discussion will be given in English and translated by students into Korean + their L1.
a. It is *possible* that certain questions will be given in Korean, if the classes’ Korean level is high enough.
b. All students, but especially for those whose Korean level is not high enough, will be able to access a bilingual version of the questions.
c. Post-viewing pre-discussion may be held in groups that are arranged according to L1 (In TBLT work of this sort, I often give students the opportunity to prepare with short discussions in their L1)

This is another tricky stage but what your propose would work well, in my opinion. I like your proposal for lower level students to be able to access a bilingual version of the questions.

d. “Culture and Language” section may be enlarged / other sections omitted.

It makes perfect sense to extend this stage in a course on culture.

7. Reponses
a. Responses will include typical questions
i. These may be answered in English or Korean (but no Korean for Korean L1s)
ii. Students can work together in groups to do peer-review / checking
iii. Teacher will facilitate
iv. This can be done as homework (partially or completely)

Another tricky area but I think you’ve dealt with it very well. I like your idea of students working together in groups to do peer-review / checking.

I could envision this becoming progressively more critical, difficult, and ‘Koreanised’ as the term progresses.

Yes. This could become more critical and difficult as you and your students become more familar with and proficient at the framework.

I both love the prospect of this course and am simultaneously terrified!

It sounds like a brilliant programme but logistically very complex! I’m sure it’ll be a great success even though you may have some teething problems.

Thanks again for your evaluation, Michael.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Marialena,

Thanks very much for your insightful comments.

It goes without saying that student’s media literacy will benefit immensely from the Extensive Viewing programme.

Absolutely. The student’s media literacy and visual literacy will definitely benefit from an Extensive Viewing programme.

As far as the obstacles are concerned I fear that in my case they’ll either have to do with parents’ not grasping the value of the programme and rather evaluating it as a distraction from the learning process, or students not having the required time to dedicate to watching the films twice or even not being willing to do so e.g. in case they did not enjoy the film.

Two very good points. Parents often don’t not grasp the value of this type of programme and have to be educated and convinced of its value. Time is another key factor – quite possibly the biggest obstacle. I would argue that learning a language takes a lot of time and hard work, and that Extensive Viewing, just like the better-know Extensive Reading, involves a lot of time and hard works but is one of the best ways to learn a language.

Overall, I believe that it could only work as an elective, extra-get-together-activity.

Of course there’s also the financial obstacle…such a programme means extra costs for both the language school and the parents.

Yes. I think you’re probably right here.

‘Selling’ it wouldn’t be necessary in my case as I was encouraged by my boss to participate in this course in order to recommend activities and frameworks that we could implement afterwards!

Having your boss on board is a big advantage!

Thanks again for your comments, Marialena.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Marialena,

Thanks very much for your great evaluation of the viewing guides.

I wouldn’t give the viewing guide to its entirety as I feel like the 27+ pages might overwhelm my students and eventually demotivate them.

I know the viewing guides are long – between 28 and 40 pages. However, as Extensive Viewing is based on the principles and tenets of Extensive Reading it does involve a lot of work for students. . When teachers give students a simple novel or reader to read, it may be 100 pages in length but we wouldn’t expect them to read it it a few days – we’d give them a number of weeks. The same applies with Extensive Viewing – students would be given a week or two to work though the guide and watch and re-watch the film.

A concern of mine: I am not sure how I feel about the inclusion of offensive vocab (swear words etc.) in the glossary. Aren’t students already aware of these words via YouTube, other films etc. anyway? Do we need to be teaching them these in the language classroom?

The use of offensive language is always a tricky area. But the fact students have come across swear words in other films and TV series doesn’t mean they know what they really mean. I’ve had several students who thought it was Ok to refer to Black people as ‘nigger’ as they’d heard it so much in films, Tv series and rap songs. They were horrified when I told them it was offensive. Similarly, I’ve had lot of students who thought it was appropriate to refer to a woman as ‘a bitch’ because they’d heard it so much in films and TV series. I think it’s important to highlight swear words in a film and make students aware they’re offensive and how they’re used. So, for example, in the guides ‘son of a bitch’ is shown as being an exclamation as well as an insult. Obviously, with younger learners it’s trickier to teach these words and expressions.

The two viewing guides I looked at: Boyhood and Carol

Two good choices!

Even though I would prefer to pick Carol I think that it’s for slightly older students. I’m teaching 12-13 year olds who are raised in a very patriarchal society and have limited – if at all – contact with people who deviate from the concept of the ‘traditional family’ so I would rather go for Boyhood if I had to choose between the two.

I understand what you mean about being careful about using films about people who deviate from the concept of the ‘traditional family’ with certain groups of students. I hope that the world is changing and that we can use more films about all of humanity.

As regards the pre- and post-viewing questions I really liked them as they explore a variety of different aspects of each film.

Yes. The pre-viewing and post-viewing questions do explore many facets of the film.

I also really liked Gail’s comment about listing the names of the characters and describing who they are!

Yes. This could help students understand the characters better especially when there are a lot of charcters in the film.

Thanks again for your great evaluation, Marialena.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Michael,

Thanks very much for the explanation. Now I understand.

Good idea to use time stamps in this way.

Cheers,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Marialena,

Thanks very much for your great analysis of the short film worksheets.

1. Another benefit maybe related to the fact that they are often silent is that this particular feature of short films allows teachers to introduce a variety of different cultures to the students (not centred around the English-language dominated productions of the UK and the US).

This is an excellent point. There are thousands of free-to-view short films from all around the globe.

Promoting independent productions and making students aware that there’s more to Hollywood and Netflix is always something to consider!

Absolutely. The vast majority of short film makers are independents and not tied to the conventions of Hollywood.

2. Evaluation of the generic activities:

Short film viewing guide: I like its holistic approach, especially how the after-viewing questions evaluate many different aspects of the film

Yes. The holistic approach is nice, isn’t it? The after-viewing questions do evaluate many different aspects of the film.

Video ads activity: I would maybe add a more generic concluding question such as ‘What is the purpose of the ad? (to sell etc.)’

This is a great question to ask about an ad.

I think that it’s important to remind students that even though ads might often have a narrative and resemble films their ultimate purpose is simply to drive consumerism by selling a product, service, idea etc.

Absolutely. Critically viewing and analysing ads helps students become more critical viewers and citizens.

Setting activity: I particularly liked this one, especially if done before watching the film I think that it could stimulate curiosity and eventually engage students

The setting activty works really well and generates a lot of speculation and inference.

Sound grid: I have to agree with Gail about this one !

This is one of my favourites too.

Sound activity: I really like the idea of exploiting the soundtrack of the short film – I’ve never done this or thought about it so it’s something completely new to consider. I’m thinking that it might even work nicely with ‘silent’ films which though have other sounds (not dialogues) throughout the entire duration of the film…maybe play a segment that has very descriptive sounds (without visual stimulation) and asks students similar questions to the ones about the soundtrack.

This activity does work well with ‘silent’ films with no dialogue.

Thanks again for your great analysis, Marialena.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks very much for your great evaluation of the short film worksheets.

The brevity of the film is certainly an important factor, especially when a class might only be 40 minutes or an hour in length. Students can find the moving image more motivating, and I’ve found this to be particularly true of young learners.

Absolutely. Young learners seem to be more motivated by film and video texts.

Where they might struggle to read a written text, they’re able to read images. Where they might find the text boring, the moving image captures their imagination. I’ve found they also work very well for young learners who have shorter attention spans – they can (usually!) stay focused for the 5 – 10 minutes to watch a short film.

I like the way you’ve expressed this.

I think that I could use short films dealing with present-day/social issues more in the classroom.

I’d definitely recommend trying to use short films dealing with present-day/social issues more in the classroom.

Listening to the soundtrack

I’ve tried visualisations with students, using spoken word or sound effects/music. I’m really interested to know just what predictions students would come up with based purely on what they hear and without any visual cues.

Students come up with amazing predictions based purely on what they hear. This works best if they close their eyes and visualise.

I’d get them to write down ideas for each of the questions or possibly draw their response – what do they picture in their mind’s eye? I’d them get them to compare ideas with their partner or group and take feedback – are their answers similar in any way? It might also be a good idea to write down ideas from each group on the board to refer back to.

Nice! I think this process would work really well.

When students actually watch the film perhaps they would be more actively engaged as they start to compare similarities and differences. Referring back to the whiteboard, correct answers could be ticked off.

This is a nice way to finish off the process.

Video ads worksheet

I actually hadn’t thought about using adverts as short films (it seems obvious now – the John Lewis Christmas adverts, for example!)

Yes. Most people don’t consider these ads to be short films but they are. They have characters, a setting, sound, story etc.

Adverts are multimodal texts with lots going on like video, sound, voiceover, on screen text. They are typically very short but powerful, given that they’re trying to sell a product or service in a very short space of time.

Exactly. They’re great example of multimodal texts. The fact they’re trying to sell us something means we can analyse how they are trying to influence and manipulate us.

They can be rewatched many times and they lend themselves well to students doing a follow up task, for example creating their own product and making an advert for it. Perhaps that seems cliché, but if they’ve analysed some adverts already then they can use what they learned to make a persuasive new one.

Getting students to create their own product and ad are great tasks.

Setting analysis

I’d get students to do this with a partner to share/brainstorm ideas.

This definitely works well in pairs or a small group.

I liked the ideas that came out when discussing Paperman in the webinar – talking about the location/architecture of the buildings and so on. I think doing something similar with the main characters – how they look, their personality, how they know each other etc. would be really worthwhile.

Yes. This questioning process helps to deconstruct a visual text, activates the students’ schemata and generates a lot of language.

Thanks again for your great evaluation, Andrew.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Gail,

Thanks very much for your great analysis of the short film worksheets.

Perhaps I would add that short films are more available (free) than feature films.

Excellent point! The vast majority of short films are free to view online which is definitely not the case with feature-length films!

1. Viewing guide – very nice, very helpful

This is a very nice one, isn’t it?

2. Video ads sheet – very good. Perhaps add: How does the ad affect you emotionally? What devices/tools does the film use to affect or even manipulate you?

Both of those questions are excellent.

3. Setting sheet – This is important, but may be a bit difficult to answer.

Yes. It might be difficult to answer. This is why the selection of the screenshot is important. We need to choose one which gives a lot of information or is open to multiple interpretations.

4. Sound grid – I like this very much. It directs the student’s attention to each aspect of the sound in the film.

This is one of my favourites too.

5. Listen then view – this is a very interesting idea! (I think the fourth question should read “you” instead of “they”. The seventh should say “are”).

Thanks for the heads ups on the mistakes. I’ve corrected them!

I’m not sure about the wording of the question “How does the film live up to your imagination and expectations?” – do you mean “In what ways” or “By what means”?

Good point. I’ve changed it to ‘In what ways does the film live up to what you imagined?’

Thanks again for your great analysis, Gail.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Gail,

Thanks very much for your great evaluation of the viewing guides.

Wow, so much work and time have been put into each of these guides. My hat is off to you!Amazing.

Thanks for the kind feedback!

I understand that these guides are not to be given to the students, but rather the teacher can pick and choose from them according to the level of the students and the goals of the teacher.

The guides are actually designed to be given to students in their entirety. The Pre-viewing and Post-viewing discussion questions would be done in class and the Synopsis and Viewing at home.

1. Explanations of why we are doing this – I like very much making the students aware of why it is important to do each part, taking into consideration the age of the learners. These are good for my adult students.

Yes. As students wouldn’t be familiar with an extensive viewing programme, it’s very important to give them clear explanations of what they’re going to do and why they’re doing it.

2. Synopsis – I looked at “Sleepless in Seattle” and “The King’s Speech”. The former has a LONG and detailed synopsis. I think it may be confusing and off-putting for the students to read this. The latter is much shorter and straight-forward.

Very valid points here. The Synopsis is a tricky area. Research shows that when ESL/EFL students read a synopsis of a text before reading a text, it tends to reduce cognitive load as they are familiar with the narrative and leads to greater comprehension. However, as you point out, may spoil the film for students as they know the story before viewing.

I think it would be very helpful either to list the names of the characters with a short description of who they are or the relationship between them (e.g. mother of X, son of Y, shop owner etc.) or, even better, have the students make a list of the characters when they read the synopsis and then go over that list.

These are great ideas. They would help students to understand the character better.

It would be helpful to write the names of the characters (in the synopsis) in bold or in color.

I really like this suggestion too.

Some more questions:

I’ve responded your additional questions from your other post below.

1. pronunciation – do the students know how to read the pronunciation? I wonder about giving this at all since, for example, your pronunciation is so different from mine – and it really depends who the teacher is and what pronunciation is being taught.

yes. I take your point here. As English spelling and pronunciation are often not closely related I think it’s necessary for students to learn the phonemic alphabet – it really does help them improve their pronunciation.

2. usage – I like very much the fact that you give 3 examples of usage. Wonderful!

Yes. Having 3 examples of usage helps students to understand and learn the vocabulary items.

3. register – this is sometimes, but rarely, noted. I find it missing here, but then the teacher can certainly add it. Also there are expressions that are very dated and not used or used in England and not in the U.S. – and this is not noted (to pop something on, for example) There is a lot of necessity here for teacher intervention – which is fine.

Great point! I completely agree with you that register is really important and that the teacher can aid students here.

4. choice of vocab – this is a VERY complex topic. Is it based on what is necessary to understand? what is generally useful? what we want the students to be able to use.

This is a really important point. The choice of vocabulary is the most difficult part of writing a film guide. What i try to do is have a mix of high frequency words and expressions and salient words and expressions which aid comprehension of the narrative. Not an easy task!

ACTIVITIES – I like very much giving a choice. Great stuff. Thank you!

I’m delighted you like the activities!

Thanks again for your great evaluation, Gail.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Michael,

Thanks very much for your great evaluation of how you could use the viewing guides in your teaching context in South Korea.

My reply is going to be a bit odd. This is a result of my particular situation, not because of any problem with the question!

As I mentioned, I’m teaching a new course: “Korean culture and language through film and media”, and my answer comprises some preliminary thoughts on how I can use EV film guides in this particular course.

It’s absolutely fine to evaluate how you’d use the guides in your context – not weird at all!

Overall

Explain the concept and design of film guides, then work through one that is prepared (by me or an already published one), with a film they (probably) already know [familiar content so they can focus on the structure of the guide].

Using a film they are already familiar with is a good idea as it reduces cognitive load as they are already familiar with the story, setting, characters etc.

Next, have them work through another film, to review the process and begin to think about the what/how Korean culture and language figure into it; this would most likely be an English-language film with a Korean director. Eventually, I would have them do a (group) project where they develop a viewing guide of their own.

This makes perfect sense. I like the idea of them eventually creating their own film guide.

Section by Section

Going through each section, asking / doing the following:

Basic information
*Asking them where they can find this information (IMDb, Rotten tomatoes, Asianwiki, etc.)

Yes. it’s a good task to get them to find out about the film themselves.

Pre-viewing questions
*Getting them to make up a few questions, in a group.
[Perhaps we’d look at a trailer.]

Getting them to come up with their own pre-viewing questions is nice.

Previewing discussion
*Having the groups pose questions to the class.

This would work well.

Film Synopsis
*As with basic information, where can they find it?
*Have them write a few of them throughout the term.
[Provide lots of models ; less original writing]

Yes. They’d need a lot of models to be able to write their own synopsis but it’s a nice task.

Glossary
Assign scenes to (groups of) students, and have them identify the words / phrases they can’t understand / find challenging.

Assigning specific scenes to groups is a good idea.

[Would this work by giving them time stamps? I’m not sure.]

I’m sorry but I don’t know what time stamps are.

Post-film discussion
Same as previewing discussion.

I can see the same pre-viewing proces working well with the post-viewing discussion.

Personal Response to the film
Homework, individual.

This definitely works better as homework.

Thanks again for your great evaluation of how you could use the guides in your context, Michael.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Angie,

Thanks very much for your great answers!

I will be working as a freelancer from September and am considering actually setting up shop and starting my business.
What I am considering now is how to integrate extensive viewing into my course offering. I have implemented extensive listening/reading/writing/speaking programms before (university students) and found they really enjoyed it, and had better long-term effects as it was habit building.

I can really see an extensive viewing programme working in your context, especially as you have previous experience of extensive listening/reading/writing/ programmes. As mentioned in the article, extensive viewing is based on the principle sand tenets of extensive reading, so the two have much in common.

Idea A: Students can book a regular course, and as an extension to their “paket” they can also book the Film Club. (both are stand-alone, but cheaper in combo)

This sounds like a good option.

Idea B: Building up enough of a student base, it could be expanded to also offering a Listening Club, Reading Club, Speaking Club, Writing Club… Multimodal Club…

Another good option.

Obstacles: I need to have a broad student base, and I would need space as these activities are more fun with a bigger group. Only have two basic groups instead of the 6 CEFR groups? I still need to play with this idea.

I think that initially at least you’d would only have two basic groups instead of the 6 CEFR groups. It’d be difficult to make 6 different CEFR groups financially viable. Another possible obstacle, could be clearly communicated to students and parents what extensive viewing is and how it works.

Thanks again for your excellent responses, Angie.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Angie,

Thanks very much for your great evaluation of the guides.

Since the guides follow the same structure, I don’t feel it is necessary to make a comparison here.

That makes sense.

I do think they are great. They lighten my load on the prep side. Without I would have to watch a movie several times, pick out vocab, find a synopsis online somewhere, adapt the framework Qs… and here it is done.

Absolutely. They really do reduce the preparation time for teachers.

Of course I would still need to think about how to present it or which questions to focus on, what to give as homework. Also maybe come up with activities to reinforce/practice the vocab.

Yes. The teacher still has to do some work in terms of selecting which questions to focus on and which homework to do, but the bulk of the work is already done.

Thanks again for your great evaluation, Angie.

All the best,

Kieran

[Author]

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